Only US$15 million to be available for auction next week

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has announced that only US$15 million will be available for auction next week.

The central bank says this is in line with the refinement of the foreign exchange auction system and going forward, the bank will announce the amount on offer at the auction way before the auction.

US$14.4 million was allotted at yesterday’s auction.

Though 554 bids from the small and medium sector worth US$3.6 million were accepted, only 188 were allotted US$1.3 million.

The same applied to large firms where 483 bids with a value of US$26.8 million were accepted but only 209 were allotted US$13.2 million.

Though the auction has played a key role in providing foreign currency to local industry since its introduction three years ago, more companies are now relying on their own foreign currency for imports.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said foreign currency receipts have increased by 100% and the country is expected to earn more than US$13 billion this year.

Pressure on the Zimbabwe dollar, however, continues and some argue that this is largely because of the premium on the black market rate as the local currency officially trades at $1 404.80, less than half the $2 950 on the black market.

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